Before you phone a friend (or the guy in the next cubicle with the sudden "IT expertise,") we've prepared a few tips to try before calling support. Who knows? You might just score some serious respect around the water cooler for your mad troubleshooting skills.

1.) You doozed off last night while facebook stalking, didn't you?

You got your beauty sleep and were ready to start your day. When was the last time you gave your iPad its equivilant to 8 hours of peaceful zzzz's? Today all equipment, from vehicles to printers, have computer components in them. Sometimes a simple reboot of that item will resolve the problem at hand.

Off. On. All better.

2.) You are a multi-tasking monster.

If you're gonna get anything done in this world you have to be. But are you sending mixed signals to your hard drive? If you find that certain applications (i.e. Office Word, Outlook, iTunes) aren't performing on your level, try a restart. Some applications contain a built-in diagnostic that can sense when you are having trouble (i.e. clicking your mouse one million times per second) and take appropriate action by shutting down and giving you the option to reopen and calm down.

Close. Open. Good to go.

3.) The captain stands alone.

Are your applications networked and/or shared by your colleagues? Usually, issues with a networked application will be driving everyone else bonkers too. If you are part of a crew that is all having issues with the sails of your ship you need not worry about your individual workstation, matey. The next leg of your quest is to have a technician troubleshoot the server.